Sent on behalf of Tolis Vouyioukas, Corporate Director, Children’s Services

Dear Colleague,

You will know that a group of headteacher colleagues and I meet via Skype every day with my team to make sure that we do the best we can to prevent the spread of Covid-19 and keep our children and staff safe and healthy.

I want to take this opportunity to express my deepest gratitude for the way you have responded in these unprecedented times. Keeping our schools open to those pupils who need to be at school for the reasons that we all know, despite the fear that everyone is experiencing right now, takes an altogether different type of leader, if not a superhero. Being brave, kind and disciplined every single day whilst managing uncertainty is not easy and I want you to know that this is appreciated beyond measure. Equally, I do not underestimate the impact that this is having on you personally and your families.

I have run out of verbs and adjectives to say thank you, so instead I am sharing a quote from a book I have been reading which made me think of you and all our staff in Children’s Services in Buckinghamshire.

“Be the person who cares. Be the person who makes the effort, the person who loves without hesitation. Be the person who bares it all, the person who never shies away from the depth of their feeling, or the intensity of their hope. Be the person who – believes in the softness of the world, in the goodness of other people, in the beauty of being open and untethered and trusting. Be the person who takes the chance, who refuses to hide. Be the person who makes people feel seen, the person who shows up. Trust me when I say – be the person who cares. Because the world doesn’t need more carelessness, any more disregard; because there is nothing stronger than someone who continues to stay soft in a world that hasn’t always been kind to them.”

– Bianca Sparacino, The Strength In Our Scars

Please take good care.

Tolis Vouyioukas
Corporate Director
Children’s Services